Before we start, I've gotten a couple of questions about Luciel and Zerius's relationship. It will be a bit more explored later on, but let's just say they've been through a lot together.
Now, on to the story.
Zerius teleported himself outside of a large building. The building was pretty boring in design. It was pretty much just a gray box with windows. Though it was pretty boring to look at, it was massive, easily taking up a couple thousand feet of squared space.
This was the Girigori Main Headquarters.
The devil couldn't teleport directly into Grigori HQ. Aside from being a fight waiting to happen, the facility hand numerous seals in place to prevent that sort of thing. Security reasons.
Unfortunately, Zerius didn't bother to consider the numerous guard's posted on the outside of the complex.
"Halt!" One of the guards yelled as he pointed his spear directly at Zerius.
"Right, of course they have guards outside." Zerius said to himself. 'This is on me.'
Within a minute, four more guards had appeared and surrounded the devil with their light Spears ready. "Stay where you are devil!" One of the fallen told him.
"Seriously? Are you really trying this?" Zerius asked. "I get the impression that you don't know who I am."
"Quiet!" Another fallen spoke. "You'll be coming with us."
"Okay guys, listen," The white haired man began. "I would honestly love to turn all of you in the corpses, but I don't have time for this, so I'm just going to go on in." Zerius walked past the fallen angles and towards the buildings.
"S-Stop now!" One of the guards shouted. Zerius didn't listen as he just kept walking through the group. "Fine! You made me do this!" He brought his light spear back and prepared to stab at Zerius.
"What are you all doing?" A voice called out. Zerius and the group of fallen all looked over to the voice and saw a beautiful woman standing outside the building. She wore a light violet shirt, black pants and black high heeled shoes. Her eyes was a dark purple which matched her hair was currently up in a ponytail. The woman was Penemue, Azazel's secretary and one of the upper members of Grigori. "This man has an important meeting with Lord Azazel today." She informed the guards.
One of the guards spoke, obviously scared of his superior. "B-But Lady Penemue, we were just-" She cut him off.
"No excuses." She told them. "Just get back to your posts."
"Yes Ma'am!" The guards all announced.
Zerius watched them as they all ran full speed back to their stations. The white haired man turned back to the woman."Thanks for that Penemue." Zerius said as he walked up to the woman. "I really didn't feel dealing with all that. I owe you one."
Penemue smirked. "My my, this, if you put this together with the meeting with Azazel, those little favors you owe me are starting to add up." The two began walking inside the building.
Zerius chuckled. "Yeah, sorry about that." He told her. "How about I take you out to dinner to repay you."
She smiled. "Well, I think I'd like that." She admitted.
"Great." Zerius responded. "But, we'll have to put a rain check on that for now. How long until the meeting?" He asked her.
"Only a few minutes." She said with shrug.
"Cool" Zerius stated. "Then we just need to sit and talk for a little-" He was cut off by the sound of footsteps. Zerius looked to the side to see a man approaching.
The man was young, appearing in his early twenties at the oldest. His hair was dark blue, with a single white fringe. His eyes were blue and they were protected behind a large pair of round form was mostly concealed behind a dark red coat lined with white fur.
Upon taking in the man's appearance, a large smile appeared on Zerius's face. "Yo, Highland!" The devil said to the man happily. "How ya doing?"
"Oh," he man said with apathy, "Your here. Alright I guess."
"Oh, come on Highland." Penemue began. "At least try to show some enthusiasm."
"...Why?" The glasses wearing man asked her. He then took some pieces of paper out from his coat. "Anyway, Baraquiel want me to give you these." He handed the papers to her. "Later." He began walking away.
"Wait! Highland, stay for a little while." She tried to get him to stick around.
He just waved, not bothering to even turn around, and continued walking. "I'm good. Later." He said as he left.
Penemue sighed. "That boy. I swear, he never listens to me."
"It's fine." Zerius told her with a light chuckle.. "Guys like to do our own thing. I'm sure there's just something on his mind."
Penemue seemed doubtful. "Still, you'd think he'd show at least a small reaction when is father shows up."She said to herself.
To say that Highland and Zerius's relationship was strained would be fairly accurate. Due to the high tensions between the devils and the fallen angels, Zerius wasn't around very often as Highland was growing up, mostly stopping in for only short periods of time, usually one or two days at most, before leaving.
The blue haired boy's half-devil heritage was no secret among Grigori, however only the higher ranking members knew the details like his father's identity. Regardless, the boy's nature as a "half-breed" made him a target of bullying as he grew up, something he held against his father somewhat. Zerius couldn't really blame him. Looking back at himself, from Highland's perspective, he saw a father that was in and out (mostly out) who was the source for a good amount of trouble growing up. Not exactly an inspiring picture. There was certainly no animosity between the two, but to say that the two of them had a functioning father-son relationship, would definitely be a stretch. Don't get him wrong, Zerius loved Highland just as much as he did Xuriel. He just wasn't able to spend as much time with him. Politics was a bitch like that.
Penemue looked down at her watch. "Well, it looks like that took just long enough." She turned to Zerius. "You can go ahead and go in." She told him.
"Thanks." The devil replied as he walked towards the door. Zerius opened the door. On the other side of the room, Azazel was sitting at a large desk covered in a myriad of papers. "Hey Azazel" Zerius waved to the man as he walked into the room.
"Hi there Zerius." The governor general stated. "You know, I was pretty surprised when I saw your name on my meeting list this morning."
"Yeah, well this whole thing was kind of sudden." Zerius admitted.
"Yeah, if you weren't nailing my secretary, you probably wouldn't be able to get an appointment for a month." Azazel said jokingly.
"Ha ha" Zerius gave a well intentioned, but somewhat dry laugh. "Anyway, I I should go ahead and tell you why I'm here." And so Zerius told him about the new developments with the fallen angels, as well as Kokabiel.
"I see" Azazel began after Zerius finished. He held down a button on the corner of his desk. "Penemue please reschedule all of my meetings for the rest of the day."
"Oh, should I be expecting a female guest later today?" Penemue joked from the other end of the speaker.
Azazel laughed. "Not today I'm afraid." He told her. The man then gained some seriousness in his tone. "But in all seriousness, this is important."
"Alright then. I'll take care of it." She agreed as she hung up from her end.
Azazel leaned back in his chair. "I had been getting the feeling that Kokabiel was up to something, but I was sure nothing would happen for a while." He said to himself. The man looked to his guest. "I'm sorry about the trouble my subordinate caused."
"Don't worry about it." Zerius waived him off. "As long as you pay for the damages to my home and the prison, I won't hold a grudge."
Azazel smiled. "Well that seems easy enough." He said. "So just send me the bill and I'll take it out of Kokabiel's account."
"Great." Zerius stated. "Just send the money to my sister, she's better with that kinda stuff."
"I'll try to remember that." The governor general said with a small laugh.
"Now there's just one more concern I could use your help with." Zerius spoke.
"The nun?" Azazel surmised.
Zerius nodded. "Not just her. Kalawarner too. I don't get it. I understand Asia. Her sacred gear can be considered a strong asset. What confuses me is Kalawarner. Why would Kokabiel go through the trouble of breaking her out? If it was just meant to be a distraction for me, he could have sent some of his soldiers to the human world while I was there, but instead, he goes through the trouble of breaking into Lilith Prison and breaking Kalawarner out. There has to be something special about her, some reason that he needs both her and Asia"
"Well,"Azazel began, his hand on his chin. "Ability wise, Kalawarner is pretty average. If I had to give a reason that would make her unique, it would have to be…...no, that impossible." Azazel began mumbling to himself. "Even Kokabiel wouldn't be that reckless….but, if that really is the case…."
The man's odd behavior piqued the devil's interest. "You seem to have an idea." Zerius noted. "You mind sharing?"
"Well, it's just an idea." Azazel started cryptically. "If it's what I'm thinking, then Kokabiel's actions would make sense, but there would still be one major factor that he's missing. Unless he already managed to get it behind my back. If he did, then this is trouble." The governor general was noticeably on edge, which was weird for him.
"Okay, well what's the idea?" Zerius inquired. He was beginning to get annoyed by the fallen angel's stalling.
Azazel sighed. "Well….it might have something to do with Kalawarner's father."
"Her father?" Zerius asked. "Well who's that?" The Governor General did not answer, simply sitting in his chair with a complicated look on his face. Zerius noticed this. "Come on Azazel," The white haired man started. " It's not like you to hesitate like this. Just tell me. Who is Kalawarner's father?"
Azazel sighed grimly. "Her father is...Azrael, also known as The Angel of Death."
There you go. Kinda a shorter chapter. But I'm planning on updating with a little mini-chapter soon so it evens out.
If Highland and Zerius's relationship seemed a bit distant for father and son, that was intentional. Zerius likes to let Highland do his own thing, and Highland doesn't really care. Combine that with the fact that they don't spend much time together, and a distant relationship is what you get.